Learning to Cope
by Athenian Gemini
Summary: When seven year old Annabeth disappears from her bed in the middle of the night without so much as a note, her father and step-mother do what she never guessed they would. They look for her. However, with the help of a certain god of prophecy, they find... something else. Rating may change.
1. Preface

It was a chilly October morning, the coldest they'd had all year, when Fredrick Chase found himself sitting on the end of his seven year old daughter's bed, reflecting on her role in his life. Annabeth had never been an easy child to cope with, he'd been far from ready for her when she'd come into his life and at times his serious eyed daughter had seemed more the parent them he had. By two she preferred it when he read her Charles Dickens instead of Curious George, whom had been Fredrick's favorite, and by four they'd moved on to Dante's Divine Comedies and the odd book on architecture that she begged him to get her from the library. That was where their best memories lived, in their books, in those precious few minutes before bed when there were no worries about work and money and whatever trouble his little girl had stirred up that particular day. He and Annabeth lived for story time.

The stories had stopped when Fredrick married Lilian. Not all at once, but so slowly he hardly noticed, the more Lilian needed his attention, the less time he had for Annabeth and the more resentment grew between the two leading ladies in his life. As if that wasn't enough, Bobby and Mathew's birth seemed to take the tiny crack that was forming between his daughter and the rest of his family and drive a wedge into it. His sweet, studious, golden haired girl seemed to retreat from the family, or perhaps she was pushed out. She fought with her step mother on a daily basis, sharp tongues and iron wills clashing like sword blades and he never stepped in, believing they needed to sort out their differences themselves. And when his daughter screamed in terror at night, waking the twins and bringing Lilian's wrath down on her, he didn't have the energy to come to her defense.

Looking back, there were so many things he would do differently, but then, he wasn't sure anything he could do would make it better for anyone. If she were to turn up on his doorstep in a golden cradle tomorrow, would he be ready for her? No. Somehow he doubted there would ever be a time when anyone was ready to deal with the storm of strength and intelligence that came behind those sharp grey eyes.

Annabeth had never and would never be easy to cope with, unwilling to change to make things easy for anyone else. But then it didn't matter, he thought as his eyes searched the soft blue walls of her room, gliding over drawings far too complex for a child of seven, returning to the bed that held the sick truth he was struggling with, it didn't matter that he wasn't ready or that she wasn't easy. Nothing like that mattered anymore because Annabeth Chase was gone.


	2. October Morning

If there was one thing that could be said about Lilian Chase, it was that she was good in a crisis, though deep down inside Fredrick suspected it may be her feelings of guilt over his missing child that drove her. Still, she took charge of the situation, calling her mother to come stay with the twins while ushering him off to get dressed. They didn't offer much explanation to the aging Mary Pope when she arrived to care for her grandsons, nothing beyond that Annabeth had run away as they rushed out the door, unsure really of where to start.

"It's cold." Fredrick muttered as they wove up and down the alleys between their house and the main road.

"Button your coat, Dear." Lilian advised, as though she didn't know what his real concern about the temperature was about. The absense of Annabeth's coat from the house suggested she'd thought about the coat, but there was no evidence that the rest of her apparel consisted of any more then her butterfly print pajamas and the worn out pair of sneakers they'd been meaning to replace for weeks. Lilian tried to keep her voice hopeful, "Maybe she'll get cold and go home. She's a smart girl, she'll make the right decision."

Fredrick tried to keep the doubt from his face, "She's smart, but she's also Annabeth. She's never backed down from anything once she's set her mind on it."

That was true, the young Athenian had once decided she was going to ride her bike without the training wheels, even though Lilian had told her she was still too little. The blonde child had gotten out her father's tools and removed those training wheels anyways with an almost scary look of determination on her face. By the end of the afternoon she'd scraped both her knees and palms, bit her lip and sprained her wrist, but she rode that bike to the end of the block and back, grinning with pride like she'd just conquered a dragon. No, if Annabeth had decided that home wasn't the place for her anymore, there was little doubt she'd chose to freeze to death before she'd admit defeat.

A few feet ahead of them, something caught Lilian's eye. Something red against the pale, frosty pavement. She grabbed her husband's arm, pulling him forwards, "Fredrick!"

"Her coat." Fredrick confirmed, picking up the piece of torn fabric and examining it. Perhaps she'd simply caught the sleeve of her little red coat on the a nail sticking out from one of the fences nearby, but the unspoken knowledge that his daughter would be hunted by monsters plagued Fredrick. Neither of them wanted to acknowledge the drops of blood that speckled the ground around the scrap either.

"Annabeth!" Lilian shouted suddenly, catching her husband off guard. He was quite sure if Annabeth was still alive and still within earshot, she wouldn't come running at the sound of her step mother yelling, but he let her try anyways. "Annabeth!"

"Goodness." The young man's voice behind them made both adults jump in surprise, turning to see a strange boy in his early twenties leaning casually against the fence, "All that racket, you're liable to wake the neighbors."

"Please," Lilian pleaded, "We're looking for a little girl, she came by this way she's-"

"Blonde?" The boy cut in. Something about him was familiar in an odd way that Fredrick couldn't quite place, something about his aura and his lopsided grin. "About seven? Startling grey eyes? Red coat?"

"That's her!" Fredrick pushed aside his odd feelings about the boy and allowed his hopes to rise a little, "You've seen her!"

"Well, yes and no." The boy said, shrugging, "She passed by here in the wee hours of the morning, I wasn't here yet."

"But you described her!" Fredrick demanded, "You _have_ seen her!"

"I've seen her path, Fredrick Chase." The boy corrected, his tone a little dark, "You should stop looking, you won't find your daughter."

Lilian stared at the boy, appalled by his suggestion, "What do you mean, stop looking! She's a child! A lost child! We can't just give up on her and the fact that you're suggesting we do so is... I mean, who do you think you are?"

The boy shrugged like her words didn't even register with him, "Annabeth Chase is on her own path now, it's best you don't get in her way."

"You're a god." Fredrick realized, putting a hand on his wife's arm to quiet her. "That's how you know about Annabeth. You know Athena."

"I don't usually keep tabs on the children of my eldest sister, but yours has such an interesting road ahead of her." He mused.

"You're Apollo, the god of prophecies." Fredrick recalled from one of Annabeth's books, "Show me what happens to her."

Apollo scoffed at his demand, "Easy, Chase, it's not good for you mortals to know too much of the future."

"Show us!" Lilian insisted, "Please, we need to know that she'll be alright."

Apollo paused, seeming to think things over, and then sighed, "Alright, if that's really what you want, though this is highly irregular..."

The couple didn't even have time to rejoice in the idea of getting their wish before Apollo reached towards them like he was casting some sort of spell over them. There was a blinding light and when it receded, the sun god stood alone in the alley way, looking grimly at the spot where Mr. and Mrs. Chase had been standing a moment ago.

"... I am going to get so much shit for this."


	3. Annabeth

**A quick note to the Guest who commented on the last chapter: Mrs. Chase is never given a canon name in the books.**

It was a warm morning in July, easily enjoyed by twenty seven year old Annabeth as she stared Percy down from across the training arena. There was nothing, she'd found, that kick started a promising day quite like a friendly sword fight. It was the only time of the day she'd submit to being beat at anything, though she had little choice in that, even after all these years, Percy remained the superior sword fighter.

"You know, Wise Girl." Percy smirked at her across the ring, "If you think this is going to be too hard, you can just give up."

She playfully scowled at him, knowing exactly what he was trying to do, "Can it, Seaweed Brain, we've barely started..."

With a little yell, she launched herself towards him, their swords clashing together loudly in the quiet morning air. The Legion would still be at breakfast, she mused, parrying away a blow to her mid section, she'd become an early riser as she grew older. Percy, on the other hand, had been forced into waking early by a few factors of their life style. Still, her advantage of being alert didn't help her much as their blades locked together and he took the chance to knock her feet out from under her, sending them sprawling.

"Surrender." Percy demanded, pinning her to the dusty floor.

"Never!" She laughed, struggling against his hold on her.

"Fine. I suppose I'll just have to torture you until you concede." Percy smirked, kissing her forehead. She gave him a momentary confused look until he released her arms and started tickling her. "Give up! Give up! Give up!"

Annabeth shrieked with laughter, trying to push him away with little success. Finally, between fits of chest hurting laughter, she managed to gasp out, "I surrender!"

Percy grinned in triumph, climbing off her and helping her up, "See? Was that so hard?"

"Yes." She half joked, "My pride is badly wounded, Jackson."

"Well here, why don't you let me make that better?" He pulled her in close, kissing her firmly on the lips for a moment, "Better?"

"Mmmm." She hummed, pulling back in for more, "Almost..."

"Get a room!" The couple pulled apart slowly, glancing at Reyna as she sauntered into the arena, eying them playfully, "Or better yet, go home, do that in your house."

"Carefully Reyna." Percy warned, jokingly, "Your bitter is showing."

"I am not bitter!" She protested, punching him in the arm, "Or did you forget that you're not the only one who gets to take a gorgeous blonde home at the end of the day?"

"Isn't that blonde currently at my house?" Annabeth teased.

Reyna looked like she may have a counter comment to shoot back, but she was quieted by Frank bursting into the training area. The expression on his face was odd in a way Annabeth couldn't place as his eyes landed on her, "Annabeth, you need to come to the Temple of Apollo... there's something you should see."

The three in the training arena exchanged mildly alarmed looks, but it was clear Frank wasn't going to elaborate in front of them, so Annabeth gave Percy a quick kiss, "I guess I'll see you after work."

With a small nod to Reyna, she followed Frank as he urged her to, hurrying down the street towards the temple. Frank gave her an apologetic look, "I'm sorry to bother you so early, but I didn't know what else to do."

"Honestly Frank, what could possibly be so important that you couldn't get another architect?" Annabeth wondered, "I'm technically on leave, you know?"

"I know, it's just..." The large Canadian man seemed at a loss for words, "Just look inside."

Sighing, Annabeth stepped inside the temple and froze in shock as her eyes immediately fell on what Frank had been speaking of. Clearly it wasn't her architectural expertise they needed.

 ** _-Line break-_**

The first thing Fredrick noticed when he woke was that the ground was hard and cold, though the actual temperature of the air seemed to have risen significantly. He was sweating in his jacket. The next thing he noticed was the ceiling, the intricate detailing and grand arches seemed to almost be a familiar style.

"Fredrick." Lilian's voice brought him into the reality of where they'd woken up, or more the reality that he had no clue where that was. Lilian was already on her feet, staring at a large dark figure in the doorway, a bulky Asian man who seemed just as surprised to see them as they were to be there.

"Who are you?" The man demanded, seeming to finally find his voice.

"I'm Lilian Chase." Lilian offered, helping Fredrick to his feet, "This is my husband Fredrick. Can you tell us where we are?"

"Um... Rome." The man frowned, "Stay here."

Fredrick wanted to know what exactly he meant by _Rome_ , but the man disappeared from the door way rather quickly for such a substantially sized fellow, leaving the couple with no choice but to sit on the marble steps of what they figured to be a temple and try to manage the banging in their heads.

"What did he mean Rome?" Lilian asked quietly.

"I haven't the faintest idea, Dear." Fredrick sighed, then straitened slightly, "You don't think... we asked Apollo to show us where Annabeth is."

"Can he do that?" Lilian wondered, "Teleport people around the world?"

"He's a god, Lilian." Fredrick reminded her, "Who knows what he's capable of."

They fell back into silence, examining the temple, fittingly a temple of Apollo, though Fredrick doubted that was a coincidence. It felt like the man was gone an hour, though his watch told them it had only been fifteen minutes and when he returned, he brought someone with him.

The woman who stepped into the temple was tall and athletic looking with a cascade of long blonde curls pulled up into a messy ponytail and startling grey eyes. Signs of a child of Athena, he noted, and she did bare rather striking, if much more mature, resemblance to his daughter. Her clothes were dusty as though she'd been rolling on the floor and an ornate white sword hung at her hip in a leather scabbard, he couldn't be sure, but it may have been made of bone. He examined the woman as closely as she seemed to be examining him, like there may be something, some secret about who they were that could be seen if you could just look hard enough. Except the woman seemed to already know. Her eyes held a strange mix of emotion and familiarity as she eyed the couple. He started to get the feeling that there was more going on than just an odd trip to Rome. And then he saw it, the now tiny scar on her elbow from one of her many biking mishaps.

His eyes flew back to her face in shock, "Annabeth?"

"Dad?"


	4. The Path

"Dad?"

The word hung in the air, like they were waiting for Apollo to jump out and yell April Fool's, like this was all some big joke. Of course, last time Fredrick had checked, it had been mid October and now, judging from the heat, it was late August and the sun god was no where to be seen.

"Dad." Annabeth repeated, staring at him like he may have grown a second head, "How did you get here? You look... different."

"You're grown up." He said, a little dumbstruck, like she may not have noticed with her height and feminine figure. But then, her word, different, had seemed loaded with subtext. "We, uh, Apollo."

"We were looking for you." Lilian took over for him, getting over her shock enough to form at least short sentences, "Apollo said he could show us... he could show us the path you were on."

"Looking for me?" A frown creased her forehead.

"You ran away last night." Fredrick offered as context, "Well, small you did, anyways."

"When I was seven." She nodded, clearly knowing when he was talking about, but not quite believing what she was hearing, "You looked for me?"

"Of course we're looking for you, you're seven years old!" Lilian looked offended, "You thought we wouldn't?"

"I thought you didn't." She corrected, "You never said anything about it. Though, I suppose, after that much time had passed... You should stop looking."

"Annabeth, how could you say that?" Fredrick frowned, "You and that god. We can't just stop looking, it's cold out, how far could you possibly make it?"

"Far." Annabeth informed him firmly, "There's no point in looking for me, you won't find me. You didn't find me."

"But where are you going to go?" Lilian protested.

Annabeth seemed to hesitate, "It's a really, really long story that eventually ends up here."

"In Rome." Fredrick said in disbelief.

"New Rome." Annabeth corrected, actually seeming to get some amusement out of his confusion, "We're in San Francisco."

"San Francisco." Lilian repeated. "New Rome, San Francisco."

"Yes." Annabeth confirmed gently, "This is one of two safe havens for... well, for people like me."

"You're saying a bunch of demigods live here?" The thought seemed to make Lilian nervous.

"I'm saying only demigods live here." She explained, "Well, and their descendants. Monsters can't get in. Mortals aren't supposed to be able to either."

Fredrick felt disappointed, if not surprised, Annabeth, he realized, was probably never coming home. Not if there were places like this where she fit in. Annabeth looked like she may have a theory about their arrival, but the Asian man, whom they had almost forgotten about, interrupted, "Annabeth. I hate to break up this little... reunion? But maybe you should take your parents somewhere else before you start attracting attention."

"You're right." She admitted, "Four non-children of Apollo hanging around his temple is a little strange. Thank you, Frank. I suppose the best thing to do would be to... I don't know, take them home?"

The man, Frank, looked like he didn't like that idea much, but he agreed anyways, "That would be more private."

"You're going to want to ditch those jackets." Annabeth advised. "It's the middle of July, you look like weirdos."

Despite her comment, Fredrick and Lilian were all to eager to shed their coats, it was awfully hot in the temple and the chances of it being cooler outside were not much better. Once they were dressed better for the weather, Annabeth motioned for them to follow her out onto the dirt path and towards what appeared to be an old fashion Roman town. By the time they reached the first shops, Fredrick was buzzing with excitement.

"This place is amazing!" He told her, "It's like... like..."

"Rome?" She supplied, smiling in amusement, "We try to keep the architecture as traditional as possible to keep up the aesthetic. Inside the buildings are quite comfortably modern though."

"We?" Lilian caught, "You did become an architect then?"

"Oh yes. I studied it at the local university." Annabeth grinned, "Obviously not all of this is mine, but I designed the library over there and the new wing of the university along with several of the temples. I'm not working right now, though, I've been on leave for the past few months. It's probably best I let someone else have a chance to design something anyways."

She turned them down a road that lead them away from the shops towards what appeared to be a suburban area with beautiful columned houses and a large, grassy park at the center. It was Lilian's turn to be impressed, "This is a lovely neighborhood."

"This was my first project when we moved here. A place for our dreams." Fredrick was about to ask her about her use of the term "we" again, when something else seemed to catch her attention and she waved to a woman in the park. The woman, a curvy African American woman with a pram at her side, waved back enthusiastically, if a little puzzled by Annabeth's entourage. "That's Hazel, Frank's wife, and their new daughter, Emily. She's about a month old now. We go way back, Frank and Hazel and I. I have a lot of good friends on this block."

"It seems like a wonderful place to raise a family." Lilian observed.

"Which house is yours?" Fredrick wondered, eying the grand looking homes.

"It's this one, right on the end." She told them, leading them up the steps of the house at the far end of the block. The door was unlocked, in this neighborhood, it seemed, there was to real worry about break-ins. Annabeth paused as the door swung open, like a thought had just occurred to her, "There's something I should probably tell you before we go inside. I don't exactly live alone."

The couple was about to ask what she meant when a racket came from inside, like a thunder of little feet and barreling down the hallway towards them was about the last thing they'd expected to see.

"Mama!"


	5. Family Values

"Mama! Mama's home!"

"Hi Baby!" Annabeth beamed, scooping up the tiny child once he got within arms reach and planting a big kiss on his cheek. He was a beautiful child, Fredrick realized, getting a good look at him in Annabeth's arms. The boy couldn't be more then two with wavy locks of rich, chestnut brown hair and Annabeth's startling grey eyes. He grinned at them, a carefree, innocent, but crooked grin that Fredrick some how knew was full of trouble. Annabeth brushed the hair off his forehead, "Dad, Lilian, this is my son Lucas. Luca, can you say hi to Gramps and Nana Lilly?"

"Hi..." Luca, as Annabeth had called him, grinned a little and buried his face in his mother's shoulder like perhaps he was suddenly feeling a little shy.

Fredrick wondered for a heartbreaking moment if his grandson had ever actually met him before. He was about to ask his daughter when a tall, lanky blonde man came down the hall with two small children bouncing at his heels. The first girl was around Luca's age, with dark hair and eyes and tan skin that suggested Spanish decent. The second girl, with her pale skin, blondish hair and sharp blue-grey eyes, was maybe six months younger and a lot less sure on her feet. The man smiled at them and immediately Fredrick recognized his eyes, exactly the same piercing grey as Annabeth's, "You're late."

"Yeah, I know, I had a situation." Annabeth nodded to her father and step mother, "Dad, Lilian, this is Malcolm, my little brother. On Mom's side obviously."

"Little brother." Malcolm scoffed, picking up the blonde girl as she started pulling on the hem of his shirt, "Six months. You've got six months on me and I've got four inches on you."

"Don't be bitter, Mal, it's a bad impression to make on the children." Annabeth teasingly scolded, then nodded to the two little girls, the dark one and then the blonde one, "Dad, these are my nieces, Kamila and Autumn. I trust Luca was good for you?"

"Oh he was great." Malcolm chuckled, "Autumn did a little hair pulling at one point, but we're working on using our words, aren't we?"

Autumn scowled and didn't respond, causing Annabeth to laugh, "Good luck with that, she takes after her mother. They both do."

"Ah yes, me and my strong willed warrior girls. Sometimes I curse my good taste." He rolled his eyes, "So are you home now? 'Cause I get the feeling everyone's getting close to wanting lunch and I'm supposed to meet Reyna and Lou Ellen in town for a family lunch."

"Oh yeah, go ahead, go." She waved him off, "I'm not parading these two around town any more than I have to anyways."

Malcolm nodded, frowning slightly, "Yeah, I was going to ask..."

"Don't even right now." Annabeth shook her head, "I'll tell you when I figure it out. Something to do with Apollo."

"Right, enough said. Uh, Zoey's in the pen." Malcolm nodded, taking Kamila's hand, "Alright girls, let's go. Moms are probably waiting."

Annabeth stood at the door and waved good-bye before turning back to her father and step mother. Fredrick had a curious look on his face, "Those girls don't look anything alike."

"Well, they have different mothers." Annabeth explained, "Malcolm's in a polygamist marriage, he has two wives. Reyna and Lou Ellen."

Lilian wrinkled up her nose, "That's-"

"A different and interesting take on the classic family dynamic that you hadn't considered before?" Annabeth finished for her, an edge of warning in her voice. "It works for them."

"Well that's great then." Fredrick cut in, not eager to see a fight break out, especially because grown up Annabeth towered over Lilian and looked like she could go ten rounds with a bear without breaking a sweat, while Lilian was... soft.

"Good." She smiled, readjusting Luca, who had settled against her chest, sucking his thumb. Kicking off her sneakers, which didn't make her any less tall, she made her way down the hall into a broad, well lit kitchen area attached to a sunken living room. The whole house seemed to have a very bright, open design with high ceilings, stone floors and a very Mediterranean feel. The kitchen featured a set of open french doors that opened onto a large back porch with a spacious lawn and pool area just beyond. The whole place felt like a perfect blend of modern comfort in a traditional Greek or Roman villa. To Fredrick and Lilian, the whole place felt above their pay grade, but Annabeth and Luca seemed perfectly comfortable. Annabeth plopped her son down in a high chair at the bar counter in the kitchen with a coloring book and some crayons and, motioning for them to stay put, descended into the living room where they could see a playpen set up behind the couch. One grandchild had been quite something for Fredrick to wrap his head around so he wasn't sure how to feel when Annabeth retrieved the baby. Suddenly it was clear why Annabeth was on leave from work, the child couldn't have been more then two months old and already sporting some adorable sandy blonde curls.

"Oh... there's two." Lilian said, a little dumbfounded as apparently she hadn't been expecting that either.

"Zoey was in Mama's tummy." Luca told her excitedly, "Daddy says when she was tiny he pushed her in Mama's belly button."

"That's right." Annabeth chuckled at her son, "Because Daddy is a doofus who doesn't want you to know where babies actually come from."

"Zoey and Lucas." Fredrick smiled, "Nice names."

"Thanks, Luca was named after a friend of mine. A friend who actually is the reason I survived after leaving home." She admitted, then offered Zoey to her father, "Hold her? I'm going to make some pasta."

"Oh, uh, sure." He awkwardly took the baby from her. Zoey was a fairly docile child, it seemed, she just stared up at him with the biggest green eyes he'd ever seen.

"Zoey was named after a hunter of Artemis who helped rescue me on a quest once." She continued, grabbing a pot from the cupboard and filling it with water, "I never knew her, but my husband and my best friend, Thalia both did. They say she was brave."

"She died?" Lilian looked taken aback and perhaps like Annabeth had just justified her concern for herself and her children over the past few years.

"Well, I'm not in the habit of naming my children after people who are still alive." She shrugged, leaning against the counter while she waited for the water to boil, "That just gets confusing."

"So then... your friend, Lucas...?" Fredrick frowned.

"Luke was complicated. He made some bad choices." She shrugged, turning to the stove so she didn't have to look at anyone, taking the chance to dump a box of KD into the pot. There was a reason they never called their son Luke, what happened would probably never not hurt her. "He, uh, he broke a promise to me. Hurt me. But he was a hero in the end."

That was meant to be the end of the conversation, but Lilian didn't quite seem to get that, "He must have meant a lot to you. What happened-"

"He killed himself, okay?" Annabeth snapped, causing Luca to look from his coloring, eyes round with distress, while Zoey began to cry. Annabeth softened immediately upon seeing her children upset, offering Luca a reassuring smile and retrieving the baby from her father, "I don't want to talk about Luke. Like I said, it's complicated."

"Wow, so Frank wasn't messing with me, huh?" Percy's entrance broke the tension in the room, causing Fredrick and Lilian to jump slightly, having not heard him come in.

"Daddy!" Luca squealed as Percy made his way over to the bar and ruffled his hair.

"Hey Buddy." He grinned at his son, then nodded to his wife, mildly concerned by the atmosphere he'd walked into, "You okay?"

"Fine." She shrugged, "We were just chatting about Luke."

"Oh..." He set his lips in a grim line, then glanced at Zoey, who was wailing, "Do you want me to take her?"

Annabeth shook her head, "No, she's hungry. I'm going to... can you finish the pasta?"

"Of course." He nodded, moving to the stove as she retreated into the living room and through an open arch at the far end that lead into a hallway, disappearing from sight. He smiled awkwardly at Lilian and Fredrick, rocking back on his heels, "She's, uh, breast feeding."

"Right." Lilian nodded, uncomfortably, "That's... that's good for her."

There was an awkward pause, disturbed only be the sound of Luca scribbling, then Percy stuck out his hand to Fredrick, "Uh, I'm Percy. Annabeth's husband."

"Right. Right." Fredrick nodded, shaking his hand, "I'm Fredrick, this is Lilian."

"We've met, actually." Percy informed him, "A few of times."

"Right." Fredrick smiled awkwardly, attempting to break the ice, "I guess it's a little late to do the Dad Talk, huh?"

Percy managed a laugh, "Yeah... just a little."


End file.
